From what I've gathered so far, here's what seems to be a common agreement in a "standard" situation :

dead center at stage-lip with omnis (that I'll be wearing at head level, Binaural configuration - no other option for me anyway...)

FOB with cardioids

omnis with Edirol R-09HR

cardioids + SBD with Tascam dr-2D

No chances of being able to put mics on stage I think.I'll arrive late at the venue (after soundcheck, and I hope before the opening act hits the stage) and I never met the band, their staff yet and/or the sound guy.

Still, I have one concern left :

I already taped this band at this venue, using only cardioids worn at head level and standing at the top of the theorical sweet spot triangle (that means dead center and 10 to 15 rows away from stage).I got great sounding results.

In this venue, the board is located at about half the distance between stage and back of the room and sticked to the left wall.That probably means alot of room reverb if taping with mics from that spot.

I think I know the answer but should I really set the cardioids FOB in my case ? How should I point the mics then ?Wouldn't it be better to tape from the known sweet spot ? Is there some good sounding thing I'll miss from the FOB spot then ?

I won't be able to use a mic stand either. Cardioids will be worn at head level too (AB configuration). And I'm not fairly tall...

From what I've gathered so far, here's what seems to be a common agreement in a "standard" situation :

dead center at stage-lip with omnis (that I'll be wearing at head level, Binaural configuration - no other option for me anyway...)

FOB with cardioids

It is nice, you will be the stand . It is best to buy some small stand for onstage/stagelip recording. Just 2-3 feet tall, it is unobtrusive. You have lavalier mics, you can make mics stand from some wire too. And if you have two stands, you would space the microphones at a greater distance.

In this venue, the board is located at about half the distance between stage and back of the room and sticked to the left wall.That probably means alot of room reverb if taping with mics from that spot.

I think I know the answer but should I really set the cardioids FOB in my case ?Wouldn't it be better to tape from the known sweet spot ? Is there some good sounding thing I'll miss from the FOB spot then ?

You cannot be far from board because sbd feed. This is usually not possible in practice to lead long cables to sweet spot. And your sbd signal will be unbalanced, it should not be led over long distances too.

Quote

How should I point the mics then ?

Use Getbucket's advice. Close your eyes and determine where the acoustic center is. Point your microphone configuration there.

I do not own DPA, let confirm the following from someone more experienced. If you will record more often onstage + sbd feed, you can buy a phantom adapter for DPA microphones. The phantom adapter will convert an unbalanced signal from the microphone to balanced signal. Then you can plug onstage mics to snake and the sound engineer will bring your signal to sbd. Then you will have the sbd feed and mics signal in one place. And you will not need a battery box, the microphones will be powered by a phantom. (I suppose your other microphones have 4.7 modes, I'm not sure it will work with a phantom adapter.)

In this venue, the board is located at about half the distance between stage and back of the room and sticked to the left wall.That probably means alot of room reverb if taping with mics from that spot.

I think I know the answer but should I really set the cardioids FOB in my case ?Wouldn't it be better to tape from the known sweet spot ? Is there some good sounding thing I'll miss from the FOB spot then ?

You cannot be far from board because sbd feed. This is usually not possible in practice to lead long cables to sweet spot. And your sbd signal will be unbalanced, it should not be led over long distances too.

I should have mentionned that before but I have 2 Tascams + 1 Edirol (a third taper will join us; I just got the information a couple of hours ago). So we'll be able to record from 3 separated spots. Only the sync between the FOB source and the SBD source will be harder to do in post if I don't tape both using the same Tascam device.

In my experience with soundboard patching, be prepared for anything and never plug in yourself. I always ask the FOH guy, even if I know them very well for a patch. Depending on the console, the stage setup, etc, he may give you something different. I got a patch on Saturday night that was an XLR aux out of the console. But I've had RCA, a single mono XLR, even 1/4 from the headphones on some small boards.

Like kuba e said, just have a bunch of connectors in your arsenal. I've got an 1/8" male to RCAs to plug into my DR-60 and always carry RCA to XLR, mono 1/4 inch, stereo 1/8" and stereo 1/4".

Here's a link to the sound table user manual. Again, I never opened a sound table user manual (nor did I even approach a sound table), but I think I'm up with 3 possibilites (see 3 joined files which are caps from the manual pages 51, 52, 53) :

Stereo Aux (2x male XLRs)

Phones Out (1x female jack 6.3 - wait, or is it a mini-jack 3.5 )

Matrix Out (1x male XLR)

And here's the shopping list I've built so far (not 100% complete yet). A friend taper told me it would be better to have x actual cables than 1 cable with several adaptators.Do I miss something ?

and your post is still says that the drums are loudest in the SBD feed in clubs, which is contrary to my experience.

occasionally, a poorly mic'd snare will come thru too loud, but overall, the drums come thru the lowest 90% of the time. usually a bit dry/flat as well. (compared to the ambient room sound)

Well it sounds like your experiences have been different than the hundreds of small room matrixes I've made, so let's leave it at that.

As an old sound engineer with over 25 years of mixing just about all levels of acts in most sizes of rooms from small clubs to several thousand seat theaters and churches (never made it to arenas or stadiums) my experience is closer to yours. Obviously you need more vocals, but next comes the drums, then bass and keys (depending on their amps) usually lacking is electric guitar because it's so loud on the stage. Snares can sometimes be problematic in that they can be so loud they bleed into other stage mics, I'm pretty sure that's what the above poster has experienced. As the rooms get larger the volume off the stage becomes less of a concern, but mic bleeding issues will always be there unless you use something to block unwanted sound from reaching the microphones.

I used a R-09HR for getting SBD feeds in the past but unless you are using a pre in front I wouldn't get the feed directly into the R-09HR as it can overload/clip. Ruined one SBD tape for a unique show (intimate Cracker show in a comic book store) due to it. Back in the day I switched to using a Marantz PMD-661 for SBD and had no such problems again.

Here's a link to an old post of mine showing my SBD patch cables/adapters to, hopefully, prepare one for any type of SBD situation (well, when recording with a device via a 1/8" unbalanced input).

I used a R-09HR for getting SBD feeds in the past but unless you are using a pre in front I wouldn't get the feed directly into the R-09HR as it can overload/clip.

What you need one of the cablemakers is to make, in this case, is a -12dB pad cable. I've actually got one of those which I keep around in case I'm running a feed in to an R-05 or a 2D. The cable will generally only function in one direction so it's criticial to know which end goes to the deck.

I didn't read all the comments, so if I repeat something that has already been said, sorry.I patch out of soundboards all the time, and use an Edirol R-09HR in many situations (the other 2 decks I also patch out of boards with are the Sony M-10 and SD 744T). Depending on the soundboard, you'll with be coming out of XLR's, RCA's or 1/4". If it's a bar or similar size, the RCA's or maybe 1/4" will most likely be what you need, and of course terminating in a 1/8" to go into the R-09HR's line in. I have always had excellent results with the Edirol in these circumstances, so that would be my recommendation. When setting your levels, don't push them, stay between -12 and -6db, and raise as necessary in post. Keep in mind, however, in smaller venues, not every instrument will be routed through the board. More often than not, guitars, bass and drums will not be, or very minimally. When I patch out of boards in small venues, I use my 744T because I run mics with it as well (its a 4-track recorder). I only use the smaller 2-track recorders for festivals and larger venues that run everything through the board, and solo acoustic performances that is a guitar and vocals that both run through the board.Hope this helps...tape on!

I used a R-09HR for getting SBD feeds in the past but unless you are using a pre in front I wouldn't get the feed directly into the R-09HR as it can overload/clip. Ruined one SBD tape for a unique show (intimate Cracker show in a comic book store) due to it. Back in the day I switched to using a Marantz PMD-661 for SBD and had no such problems again.

Here's a link to an old post of mine showing my SBD patch cables/adapters to, hopefully, prepare one for any type of SBD situation (well, when recording with a device via a 1/8" unbalanced input).

Many thanks for this, I've been trying to figure out how to be prepared for anything while carrying the least number of adapters and cables. Your photo squares that away for me. But I can't figure out what the RCA female-to-female adapters are for.

I used a R-09HR for getting SBD feeds in the past but unless you are using a pre in front I wouldn't get the feed directly into the R-09HR as it can overload/clip. Ruined one SBD tape for a unique show (intimate Cracker show in a comic book store) due to it. Back in the day I switched to using a Marantz PMD-661 for SBD and had no such problems again.

Here's a link to an old post of mine showing my SBD patch cables/adapters to, hopefully, prepare one for any type of SBD situation (well, when recording with a device via a 1/8" unbalanced input).

Many thanks for this, I've been trying to figure out how to be prepared for anything while carrying the least number of adapters and cables. Your photo squares that away for me. But I can't figure out what the RCA female-to-female adapters are for.

The RCA female-to-female adapters are couplings that can turn the male RCA into a female RCA to attach any number of other cables to the board.

As mentioned above, I have never had a problem with an Edirol R-09HR coming directly out of a soundboard. I would buy an Edirol over a Tascam every day of the week, but that's just me (and I have nothing against Tascam).